Toto, we're not in New Hampshire anymore

Friday

Jul 31, 2009 at 2:00 AMAug 4, 2009 at 5:14 PM

As a 25-year resident of the greatest state in the Union, I now feel like I have been transported to the Land of Oz. A twister was not responsible for this nightmare, but the citizens voting out those Lincolnesque common-sense Republicans who understood that the government works for the people and should have the highest respect for hardworking taxpayers. The current New Hampshire Legislature has increased spending 23.8 percent over three budgets, well above what most families and businesses can afford. To pay for this they have borrowed and proposed a list of tax and fee increases too long to enumerate here. Instead of curtailing spending, their solution is to tax.

As a 25-year resident of the greatest state in the Union, I now feel like I have been transported to the Land of Oz. A twister was not responsible for this nightmare, but the citizens voting out those Lincolnesque common-sense Republicans who understood that the government works for the people and should have the highest respect for hardworking taxpayers. The current New Hampshire Legislature has increased spending 23.8 percent over three budgets, well above what most families and businesses can afford. To pay for this they have borrowed and proposed a list of tax and fee increases too long to enumerate here. Instead of curtailing spending, their solution is to tax.

The Land of Oz looks much like the over-taxed, bureaucratic-bloated, liberal mind-set driven Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Maine — all states that I have lived in and experienced. This land does not respect its taxpaying citizens. Massachusetts, where a 25 percent increase in the sales tax is coming. New York, where they have some of the highest income and sales taxes of any state, but where property tax rates are significantly higher than the no broad-based tax in New Hampshire. Maine, which has the highest overall tax burden in the Union. New Jersey — well, enough said.

The New Hampshire I have grown to love has the lowest overall tax burden in the Union (excluding oil-royalty rich Alaska), and has better services than the Oz-like states. For all those Republican controlled years, New Hampshire always ranked among the top states in terms of education, health care, low crime rates, environmental quality, tax fairness, and overall great place to live. This state was not broken, but a shining star for other states to emulate. The current shift to a spend-and-tax mind set is giving many of the family-orientated, hard-working, thrifty, and common-sense folks pause to question Concord's new ways.

The national anti-war sentiment vote may have caused many to throw the baby out with the bath water. The local Republicans who always had respect for the taxpayer of this great state are no longer there to protect you.

Beyond the out-of-control spending, why am I so concerned? Well, the pillars of what made this state unique and the best in the Union are under attack. Our strength has always been our citizens' legislature, the no broad-based tax philosophy, and the concept of local control. There are whispers that some want to pay our legislators more than their $100 annual stipend. This change will require a constitutional amendment. The beauty of New Hampshire is that we do not have professional politicians. This legislative session income tax bills have been submitted. From my experience, this has nothing to do with lowering property taxes, but everything to do with increasing revenue for the government to spend and waste. The tenet of local control helps keep everyone honest. Keeping your tax dollars local ensures they will be spent wisely. The further away your tax dollars go to be spent or allocated, the less you get in return and the more that is wasted. Look at how Washington spends our money — what makes you think that broad-based tax dollars would be spent wisely by those in Concord?

In my travels to 30 states as a management consultant over 34 years, I would describe the New Hampshire of old. All would marvel that we had our government and tax burden in check. My New York-born and bred Roosevelt Democrat father was becoming disillusioned with government's spend-and-tax philosophy when he discovered William F. Buckley, Jr., inspiring him to became a Reagan Republican. This union carpenter was always happy that I raised my family in such a common sense place. He would say "Wow, no income tax, no sales tax, town meetings where citizens can speak, no pay for legislators, and a two-month legislature session." He thought New Hampshire was paradise.

Thomas Jefferson said "I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It's always oppressive." An ever-increasing tax burden is the kind of oppression he was talking about. Jefferson also said "Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only reliance for the preservation of our liberty." Please everyone, pay attention to what is going on in our beloved New Hampshire, because once we lose our uniqueness we will never have that recipe again.

We all need to follow the yellow brick road to Concord and pull the curtain back on the so-called progressive agenda. Many of you voted with your feet and left those "oppressive" Oz-like states and came to New Hampshire to escape governments that have gone wild. In 2010, pull the Republican lever so we can return to the New Hampshire of old and make it possible to say "Oh Auntie Em — there's no place like home."

Patrick Abrami is a member of the Tri-Town Republican Committee covering Exeter, Stratham and North Hampton.

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